CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, dedicated to expanding the wireless frontier. Its most recent annual conference was held in Las Vegas March 23-25. It is considered a leading industry trade show and premiere marketplace for all things wireless (e.g. what we need for our cell phones and personal digital devices like iTouches, iPhones and now iPads, at 2.5G, 3G, and 4G).
I enjoy tracking events like this since it is such a great place to find mobile industry statistics. I used to be totally fascinated by the possibilities for mobile learning until I came to understand that the swirling world of mobility was even more fascinating. I've been was especially interested in this year's CTIA conference, given the outrageous growth in interest in all things mobile this year.
During the recent event, the CTIA released the results of its Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey. Some interesting data tidbits: 257 million data-capable devices in consumers' hands. 50 million of these are smart-phones or wireless-enabled PDAs, and nearly 12 million are wireless-enabled laptops, notebooks or aircards. As of December 2009, there were over 285 million wireless connections in the United States.
The conference was also a great reason for press releases and summary reports. Here are some of the highlights of CTIA's 2010 in Review Top Trends in Mobile:
- 4G Networks - Imagine having the network speeds you have become accustomed to at home on your mobile device. Sprint is the first to market with WIMAX, in 27 cities and 15 more by the end of the year. When it is released this summer the HTC EVO 4G will be the first commercially available phone to use WIMAX. AT&T and Verizon are backing a network specification called LTE (Long Term Evolution) that won't be available for another year.
- Android - Android, the open-source system for mobile feature and smartphones, was the big platform winner at CTIA, with new handsets and tablets announced by a variety of manufacturers.
- Mobile Video - Cisco CTO Padmassree Warrior (I follow her on Twitter at @padmassree) asserted that by 2013, 91% of all Internet traffic will be video content. She also noted that video will constitute 66% of all mobile network traffic by 2013. Mind-blowing.
- Internet of Things - @padmassree also noted that by the end of 2010 we can expect to see 35 billion devices connected to the network, by 2013 that number is expected to climb to 1 trillion. These include RFID chips, Bluetooth, network-connected sensors and other devices beyond phone and laptops that will increasingly be talking to each other.
(Kinda nice to see that the Roadtrip has been been following the right trends. There have been several posts on Internet of Things, mobility and Internet video.) Looks like it is going to be a great year for the "unplugged" crowd.
By the way, do you have your iPad yet?
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